


Fairy Tale Interruptions

by bwblack



Category: Sherlock BBC
Genre: (none) - Freeform, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 06:10:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15136826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bwblack/pseuds/bwblack
Summary: John tries to tell a bedtime story to Rosie.





	Fairy Tale Interruptions

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Fairy Tale Interruptions   
> Author: bwblack   
> Rating: G  
> Fandom: Sherlock BBC  
> Characters: John, Sherlock, Rosie, Lestrade, Molly, Mrs. Hudson  
> Summary: John tries to tell a bedtime story to Rosie.   
> Warning: (none)  
> Word Count: 1379  
> Author's Notes: July 1st 2018 prompt: One Thousand and One Nights

Okay Rosie, time for bed." John directed his daughter towards his room "Brush your teeth and into bed and I'll be in just a tick to tuck you in."

"And you'll tell me a story?" Rosie asked hopefully, head cocked to one side, eyes opened wide.

Lestrade, tried to stifle a laugh at the girl's pleading expression. He didn't try very hard. "Wait, we want to hear a story too. Right Sherlock."

Sherlock glared at the closed file folder in front of Lestrade. "There is one particular story I'd like to hear."

"Which story?" Rosie asked excited to have the grown ups joining in.

"The story Detective Inspector Lestrade came to tell us." Sherlock gleamed!

"I don't think…"

"You never do." Sherlock quipped.

"Not Nice!" Rosie proclaimed. "One pound for the Good Behavior Jar."

Lestrade snickered as Sherlock handed the child the money.

"Laughing when people get in trouble isn't nice either." Rosie held her hand out towards Lestrade. Both she and Sherlock had been fined for that, herself. Lots of times.

"I'll pay Lestrade's fee if he'll tell us his story." Sherlock offered.

"I don't think 'Uncle Greg's' story is good for… "

"Lestrade is not your uncle, Rosie. But he does sometimes tell very good stories. Often, too often the ending is a bit predictable, but they are always full of monsters and killers and rapi..."

"Kidnapper, actually. Teenager, woman now found locked in a…."

"Tower!" John interrupted. "There was a woman locked in a tower by a mean, evil witch."

"Why do we presume the kidnapper is a woman?" Sherlock asked.

"Because that is how the story of RAPUNZEL goes." John explained. "There was a very young girl who was taken from her parents by a mean, and evil witch."  
"Why Daddy?"

"Yes, what was the motive?"  
  
"Because the kid's mum was very hungry and she stole a piece of lettuce, or something…" Lestrade shrugged.

"Lettuce? That's stupid…."  
  
"The woman was a witch. She was a MEAN and Evil Witch." John went on.

"Did she have to put money in the jar?" Sherlock quipped.

"She took the little girl far, far away and built a giant tower to house her. The tower was very, very, very tall. And it had no doors and only one window way at the very, very top."

"Who built that? And how?" Sherlock wondered. "Surely the builders must've needed some sort of staircase to do the masonry at the top."

"There wasn't a staircase." John shook his head. "The witch didn't need a staircase because Rapunzel had very, very, very long very, very, very beautiful hair. And when the witch wanted to visit with Rapunzel she would stand at the bottom of the tower and yell Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your long hair."

"They could have put elaborate scaffolding around the building… but how'd they get Rapunzel into the tower? Unless the building crew was in on it…." Sherlock grabbed the nearest hard surface and began jotting down notes.

"Would hair be strong enough for a full grown woman to climb?" Lestrade asked. "That sounds really, painful."

"What sounds painful, Luv?" Mrs. Hudson asked as she walked through the door without knocking, Molly Hudson right behind.

"Trying to tell a bedtime story with Sherlock Holmes and Scottland Yard in attendance…" John sighed.

"Lestrade thinks Rapunzel's hair wouldn't have been strong enough for Rapunzel's captor to have climbed."'

"Oh, no hair is surprisingly strong." Mrs. Hudson cimed in. "My late husband used to…." She shook her head, "No, I probably shouldn't… In front of the child… and the police."

 

 

"Mrs. Hudon is quite right, though. A single strand of hair can hold 100 grams. A full head of of hair could carry 2 elephants to Rapunzel. Of course they'd most likely not get through the window."  
  
"Elephants?" Rosie asked. "Elephants came to visit Rapunzel?"

"No, but she was visited by a handsome prince who was drawn to her due to the beauty of her singing voice. He follows her beautiful singing voice all the way through the forest and eventually he gets to the base of the tower. But he can't figure out how to get in."

"Typical man." Mrs. Hudson mutters.

"He didn't know what to do so he went into the forest where he could see the tower and he waited, and he watched and just when he wa he spied the witch. He observed her closely and he heard her yell, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your long hair."

"Stalker." Molly grumbled.

"Should have called in the police." Lestrade counterd.  
  
"Oh, like they'd do any better." Sherlock sniffed. "He should have called her local consulting detective."  
  
"Right, but he didn't' do any of those things in the story, though. He waited in the forest, he spied the witch and when she left he mimicked her voice and he called 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your long hair'.

"And he waited, and sure enough Rapunzel's beautiful braid slid down the tower until the prince could use it to climb up to her."

"It would get dirty, though, wouldn't it. Up against the tower wall like that?" Mrs. Hudson shuddered. "And what is stopping birds from nesting? Or squirrels from scurrying?

"And the muddy shoe prints." Molly interjects. "The Prince had to be quite dirty himself after all that faffing about in the forest. And can you imagine how long her hair takes to dry? When she has to wash it? And how her hair would clog up the drain?"  
  
"So the prince finally entered the tower."

"And Rupunzel suddenly has a strange man who is in her room without her consent. _She_ should call the police." Lestrade argued.  
"That's your solution to everything." Sherlock complained.

"She was shocked at first, but the prince explained how he'd fallen in love with her song, and how she was the most beautiful woman in the world, and he asked her to marry him."

"Before their first real date, even. How creepy is that?" Mrs. Hudson shook her head. "Don't fall for a man who claims to be in love with you before he even knows you dear."

"You know what they are right." John admitted.

"We are?" Lestrade asked surprised.

"Yes, the prince was creepy. Rapunzel knocked him out with one of her hair brushes."

"She would have strong arms with all of that brushing." Mrs. Hudson agreed.

"She borrowed his sword, cut her hair off short, and for the first time in years she had no pain in her neck…"

"That's always what happens when you get rid of an unwanted man, dear." Mrs. Hudson agreed.

"She tied her braid to the prince's prone body, tossed the braid out the window, and climbed down to freedom."

"She borrowed the prince's horse and rode back to the prince's kingdom and when she got there told the police where to find the Prince. They sent out a SWAT team, with helicopters to rescue the prince, and their consulting detective joined the case to find the Mean and Evil Witch. When he finally found her..."

 

"And he does find her. A consulting detective always finds who he's looking for." Sherlock beamed.

"When he finally found her he made her give all of her money to the Good Behavior Jar, because she was very mean. And she got locked up in the tower until completed her sentence or was let out early for good behavior. Rapunzel used the money to find her parents and go on holiday to Ibiza. Now, off to bed with you."

"But I'm not sleepy, another story? Please?"

John shook his head.

"Just one more?"

"You could tell her the story of the Princess and the Pea." Molly offered. "I like the bit at the end where the princess who is so delicate as to be bruised by on top of a dozen mattresses and just one single pea and still the King and Queen think, 'Oh yeah, we should trust our genetic future to her.'" Molly started.  


"Hemophiliac." Sherlock diagnosed.

"Whats Hemo… hemo… hemo…" Rosie asked.

"A blood disease…" Sherlock started to explain.

John sighed. "One more, but after that? Bed!" He looked over at the good behavior jar and smiled. Not much longer now and he'd be on his own holiday.


End file.
